Apple CEO said the iPhone Duo redefines foldables, but that's not really accurate

Almost a month has passed since Apple unveiled its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, on September 9. A lot of parallels have since been drawn with Samsung's foldable phones, which have enjoyed mass-market dominance for the better part of the decade.

Apple isn't one to take direct shots at its competitors. But the most pointed line from the iPhone Duo's launch was delivered in the measured language of a press release. “It shows what's possible,” Apple CEO John Ternus said, “when hardware and software are engineered together and redefines what it means to use a foldable phone.”

There's an underlying implication here. It's the same Apple has always made when entering a category where others have already made a name for themselves. The implication is that while its competitors got the hardware right, or just right enough, the software was assembled around the hardware rather than built for it from the ground up.

The result, Apple suggests without naming anyone, is a device that feels like two things coexisting rather than one thing working. Only time will tell whether this ends up being true once the iPhone Duo is actually in customers' hands. But there's some historical truth here.

The original Galaxy Fold, which was launched back in 2019, did feel like a piece of hardware that was just two phones attempting a relationship they weren't prepared for. The software was clunky at first. Apps didn't know how to conform to the larger foldable display's aspect ratio. Continuity between the cover and inner display wasn't good consistent enough.

It also didn't help that people just didn't understand the fragility of the device. Even some tech reviewers ended up breaking their review units shortly after taking them out of the box. So Ternus's implicit description of foldables as hardware and software not yet engineered together was, in 2019, simply accurate.

That's not really the case for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung's latest blockbuster foldable, and the iPhone Duo's one true competitor. It's better at split-screen multitasking, has features like App Pair, and is far more durable than the foldables before it.

Several One UI improvements have been introduced after eight generations of software iteration for Samsung's foldables. So when viewed in direct comparison to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Ternus's critique doesn't land as cleanly.

It's not that the software experience on Samsung's foldables leaves a lot to be desired. But there's still room for improvement. There are some low hanging fruits, like a software feature that tells you how much screen time you've racked up on the cover and foldable displays individually.

Samsung's foldables currently provide you with one measure of screen time that's combined across both displays. It betrays how Samsung's software team still thinks about foldables: as devices with an extra screen rather than as a composite two-screen experience.

There will be plenty for Apple to iterate and improve for the iOS experience on the iPhone Duo. Because while it may have tested the software endlessly on its own, it's only when millions of users have the device in their hands and provide feedback with their lived experiences that Apple will bring software to the level that Ternus aspires to.

By contrast, Samsung's One UI evolution has already answered the questions Apple's team will only now formulate. As presented, Apple's software advantage is integration, not breadth. Its disadvantage is that integration and breadth are both real requirements, and as explained above, breadth takes time to accumulate.

What's clear is that the device that meets Ternus's aspirations, one where hardware and software are so thoroughly engineered together that the distinction between two screens disappears into a seamless experience, doesn't currently exist from either manufacturer.

It only shows that just because Apple has launched a foldable iPhone doesn't mean that it's going to run away with the market. It also doesn't mean that Samsung is now going to squander the dominance in the foldable market that it has built up for nearly a decade.

For us, as fans and consumers, it means that there's still a lot to look forward to. And if both of them want us to consistently vote with our wallets, they still have their work cut out for them.